Codex Wittekindeus
The Codex Wittekindeus is a parchment manuscript by a gospel writer from the writing and painting school of the Fulda Abbey and is one of the main works of Ottonian book illumination . The manuscript is today under the signature Codex Theol. Lat. fol. 1 kept in the Berlin State Library.
history
The manuscript with magnificent pictures - as usual a cover picture at the beginning of the respective Gospel - among others in purple was first in the cathedral of Magdeburg and via the grave church of Widukind in the Enger Abbey in the Herford Abbey of St. Johann and Dionys . From there it came in the 17th century as a tribute to the Great Elector to the Electoral Library in Cölln an der Spree , which he founded in 1661 , the predecessor of today's State Library.
Handwriting
The manuscript in the format 29.1 × 40.1 cm comprises 127 sheets.
cover
The leather binding of the 19th century was designed using the four original ivory panels of the old splendid binding. Originally it was decorated with goldsmith figures, precious stones and eight portraits of saints. The cover was recreated in the 19th century. From the original binding with metal and precious stone jewelry, a Magdeburg work from the middle of the 11th century, donated by Archbishop Engelhard von Magdeburg , only four ivory tablets with gold foil have survived, which come from an antependium from the second half of the 10th century, probably a foundation of Otto I . The board size is 11.7 × 12.5 to 12.8 cm. They show scenes from the life of Jesus.
literature
- Albert Boeckler : The Codex Wittekindeus . Harrassowitz, Leipzig 1938.